Journal of Research and Academic Writing

Corpus construct: a research tool in syntactic analysis of Bantu languages

Walter Ochieng Sande — 2024-09-15

Syntax of languages is understood to be shaped by syntactic universals principles. Despite operating within the constraints of these universals, languages have managed to display their unique syntactic features. This is explained by specificity in the ranking of these universals across languages. To establish the unique features, researchers have to use data collected using a variety of methods some of which are corpus studies, linguistic elicitation, introspection and experimentation. Each of these methods requires a research tool whose development or adoption is dependent on the research question(s) formulated to fill a study gap. The use of corpus construct to generate data, as other research tools, requires an understanding of what type of data is needed to answer which questions on which linguistic features. The construction of a corpus can be done from plain texts or annotated texts. The question is: how can corpus construct be used as a tool in the study of languages whose corpus is yet to be compiled and made available online? This article, therefore, intends to answer this question with biases on Bantu languages. It will be necessary to make databases from the corpus constructs available by building corpora for the languages in question. The findings of this article are deemed important in offering knowledge on building of corpus and how to use the built corpus to investigate a syntactic feature in a Bantu language.

Demystifying the discourse: techniques to effective academic writing

David Barasa — 2024-09-15

Academic writing is a distinct style of communication with its own set of conventions and purposes. It goes beyond simply expressing personal opinions to engaging in a scholarly conversation, critically analysing existing knowledge, and presenting well-reasoned arguments supported by evidence. This paper aims to unpack the often-opaque world of academic writing, presenting a toolbox of techniques for writers to craft clear and impactful texts. Drawing on genre theory developed by Miller (1984), the study will analyse common academic writing structures and the rhetorical moves employed within them. Genre theory offers a valuable framework for untangling the complexities of academic writing. Using a critical literature review methodology, the paper will synthesize existing research on effective academic writing strategies. This analysis will identify key elements such as establishing context, presenting arguments, and integrating sources. The paper is designed to be accessible to a broad audience, providing writers with the tools and frameworks necessary to not only understand academic writing but also to confidently participate in scholarly conversations.

The future of historical writing: will big data rewrite the past?

Maureen Ajiambo Muleka — 2024-09-15

The historical landscape is being reshaped by the torrent of information known as big data. This research explores the potential of big data to empower historians, not replace them. By analysing vast datasets, historians can uncover hidden patterns, challenge established narratives, and create a more comprehensive understanding of the past. However, the limitations of data quality, inherent incompleteness, accessibility, and the risk of oversimplification necessitate a critical approach. The future of historical writing lies in a balanced partnership between big data's analytical power and traditional methods' focus on context and nuance. This synergy fosters a more inclusive and nuanced understanding f the human experience across time.

Midlands State University visiting music students’ experiences of using netnography to learn marimba performance

Wonder Maguraushe — 2024-09-15

This paper builds upon the uptake of digital learning platforms as a method of tutoring visiting music students taking music practical courses. Evaluating the development and spread of netnography, this paper explores the experiences of a new scientific method in disseminating/learning practical musical instrument playing skills from a distance. This qualitative study examines lecturer-student interactions to investigate digital technology mediated interaction as a platform for enhancing visiting music students’ marimba performance competencies away from campus. The study employs an Afrocentric framework of Digital Unhu (digital humanism) and netnographic accounts of student-lecturer interaction within a resource- constrained African context to enable a more nuanced description of practice. The study demonstrates the central role of netnography in facilitating student- lecturer exchanges in the unique cultural setting of Midlands State University where visiting learners spend a considerable part of the semester away from campus, situated at their home and work environments. Visiting music students were interviewed to solicit their experiences of learning practical subjects online, coupled with observations and document analysis. Findings show that WhatsApp interaction, Google classroom sessions, and video assisted instruction provided a dynamic and highly personal environment in which the lecturer can coach students to play marimba. The experiences reveal thechallenges and prospects of adopting netnography for musical instrument instruction.

Tenure track, research and innovation in Zimbabwean academia: Unravelling the myths and misconceptions in music

Richard Muranda — 2024-09-15

In this study as researchers, we tackle the issues surrounding innovation in the academy of music. The discussions follow the ways through which people innovate in performance, music composition and music production. We explore how music innovation takes place in simple and complex forms. Our submission holds that novelty in the music domain is treated as frivolous in certain sections of society in Zimbabwe. Some of the music innovations although unique and very useful to the society, they continue to receive no recognition. It has been construed that notable innovations should produce tangible objects that should be patented, industrialised, and packaged as goods and services to generate revenue for the innovator(s) and their institutions. We argue that innovations in music particularly compositions, music productions, choreographies, and performances constitute novelties once they get copyrighted followed by industrialisation and revenue generation. Some music innovations go unpatented due to the society’s view on the way they value the creative arts. The study advances the notion that innovation in music does not necessarily have to be patented, it should aid in how certain unique, creative musical undertakings in a given field take place.

Academic pursuits in the study of music: Reflections on artificial intelligence

Richard Muranda — 2024-09-15

This article explores current and emerging trends in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the academic study of music amidst the ever-changing technologies. Through the technology determinism theory, technology-mediated learning, and unified theory of acceptance and use of technology the researcher engaged a qualitative research to examine the experiences of 10 lecturers and 40 students randomly sampled from Great Zimbabwe University (GZU), Midlands State University (MSU) and the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) on how they engaged in teaching, learning and research using AI. The fourth industrial revolution (4IR) brought novel ways of teaching-learning and research. Different AI has disrupted traditional models of education. Education now rides on AI hence the need to embrace them. here are AI resources to detect plagiarism, find answers to
essay questions, provide meanings to terms, referencing
systems to sources of information, analyse data, engage in music programming, mixing and mastering of music.
Lecturers used Bard, Bing AI, ChatGPT, Gemini, Google
Scholar, and WhatsApp to engage in teaching. Students used AI to write assignments and acquire knowledge in teaching-learning and research. Some institutions have a dilemma in accepting AI resources. The research informs that AI resources are both useful and destructive however, mature academics capitalise on the positive aspects of AI in the academic study of music. The involvement of humans in AI guarantees to verification of ideas, support to knowledge acquisition, and reinforcement of key concepts.